I had planned to write a deep introspective post about the long wait and what it has meant, how things have changed, and how the future might be tonight. After catching up on the past 2 days posts I don’t think it have it in me but I do want to write something. And most importantly, I want to write a note to our daughter, the whole reason I have kept this blog. I am glad that others have found strength and that I have been able to chronicle this journey, but truly the reason for this blog is so that Mikayla will have a record of everything from the start to the finish of our journey to her, and now the journey truly begins.

These last 3 years have been a true work of labor, there have been hard days and harder days, and even some days I would say have been the hardest days. Remember the perspective that I write this post from, we were at the beginning of the slow down before it was known we were headed into a slowdown, we were told that our wait would be 8-10 months, and now we are 6 days short of 3 years. There were many many times that we never thought we would get here and the days were dark and the clouds were low. And then on a good day we would get a glimmer of sunshine and it would only be washed away by a torrential shower. I’m sorry but only those who have been the closest to me for the last 3 years really know what I am saying here and those who are going through the process know what I mean. Three years of up hill climb, fighting to find joy each and every day. Some days I would succeed and other days I just didn’t have the fight in me.  I knew the whole time that if I kept the faith that God would reward us at the end but sometimes it was hard to keep that faith. Only now is God ready to reward us for the faith we have had. There have been many people that have helped me through this journey and without some I could not have made it to the end, I thank all of you for helping to keep my mind in the right place, and most of all I thank my wife. For those of you waiting, I know this is hard and I am not going to tell you the pain of the wait goes away right away, but I will tell you if you stay strong your time will come. And I have to believe that tomorrow I will be handed the greatest gift of all,  I will know it was all worth it, and the pain of the wait will slowly recede. Tomorrow starts a brand new chapter in life, in fact a whole new book.

To Mikayla:

I want you to know how much we both love you already. You may not have been born of our bodies, but you have been born to us of our hearts and souls, and in many ways our love for you is even stronger, I hope that someday you understand. I think when you are old enough and look around at the world you will. We wanted you more then anything and as I lay here in your home province in China typing this 18 hours before you come to us with your crib beside me, I am so so so very glad that we are here now. You are already my world and tomorrow you are going to rock it to it’s core. I cannot tell you I am going to be the best dad in the world or that I will be perfect, but I can promise you I will do the best I can to make you happy, to raise you to know God and hope you make a decision to trust Him in your life, and raise you to be a positive member of society. I can promise you there will be days you will not like me but I will try to make them few and when those days are upon us that the reasons are for the right reasons, to prepare you for the tough world you face. I hope on those days that in your heart you still know that I love you and that you love me. You are going to face challenges that I will never know and if you will bring those problems to me I will try to help you work them out. I may not be the wisest man you will ever know but I will always try to lead you in the right direction. The last three years has been the hardest of my life but every minute of it has been worth it to be this close to you now. We cannot wait to meet you my love. Dad